Toy Review: Transformers Legacy United Laser Optimus Prime Is A Fun But Awkward Figure

As I continue my journey in toy collecting, I promised myself I wouldn’t get into Transformers. I already got all but one of the Indiana Jones Adventure Series figures I wanted. My Marvel Legends, DC Multiverse and Star Wars Black Series collection would probably continue to grow, but hopefully slowly. And GI Joe Classified, TMNT and Masters of the Universe are easy to avoid any but absolute favorite characters and designs.

Transformers though, they’re their own beast. There’s dozens of characters, and all of them are kinda cool. Even if the characters aren’t, most of the alt-modes are. And all of them are someone’s favorite. But also they’re bigger, they’re more complicated, and they can be expensive.

So I promised myself, if I do ANY Transformers, it’ll be one Optimus Prime. And maybe a Bumblebee. And a Windblade. Ooooh, or a good Cliffjumper…

See how slippery of a slope this hobby is?

However, when I came across Laser Optimus Prime (technically G2 Universe Laser Optimus Prime) for 20% off, I figured this may be my Prime, so I went for it.

And really, I like this figure a lot, with two fairly big flaws.

First of all, this is a big figure and it’s highly posable. I found myself just playing with the figure pretty quickly, forgetting to take some pictures in favor of just putting him in cool action oriented poses. Could he do everything I tried? No. But he was very fun to have in hand.

The accessories were fine but not great. The axe and sword both were fantastic, and they combined into a super-sized sword that felt very 80’s. The blaster meanwhile barely looked like a blaster, more like a dinner plate, and the trailer was extremely basic when it transformed into the platform. I would have loved a more traditional cannon-like blaster here. So a half-and-half on the accessories.

The first place the figure fell short was in the design. The giant shoulder… things (blasters from the look of the box art) basically blocked Prime’s head. That meant if you wanted to pose him in action, you really couldn’t turn the head more than a few degrees right or left without having him just stare at these. They do fold down a little bit but not enough to overcome this concern

The last is in the transformation. I get that this is a LARGE figure. And I know a lot of fans like transformations that feel like a puzzle. But in this nearly thirty-step process, we had a lot of frustrations. At one point, the process even turned to tears from my eight year old. The hinges and joints were incredibly tight in some places and too loose in others (we nearly lost the Matrix of Leadership a time or two). And more than once I was afraid to complete a step because it felt like I might break the figure (I didn’t).

The alt-mode is great. The truck and trailer look fantastic together. But the process to get there was so frustrating that I’ve basically decided that the figure is remaining in robot mode for as long as I have him.

In all, a very fun figure, but go into it with eyes open. There are flaws here and you shouldn’t expect it to be perfect.